POETRY PAGES 

These pages contain selections from books offered through LIPS and by guest authors featured by Poetry Doctor.ä   

WATCHING YOU  by David B. Axelrod     I spent till sunrise    watching you, your     restless breaths,     your fine-boned face,     your nakedness     defined in blue-gray     light of quarter moon.     You sighed and turned     and still I stared,     the crisp curled knot     of sun-bleached hair     tied up to bare     a soft, long neck,     small shoulders,     the outline     of small breasts.    Until you turned     again toward me,     eyes flickering     in half su rprise.     I spent till sunrise     watching you,     protector of your      dreams and sighs.   from LOVE IN THE KEYS  

IN THE LOBBY by William Marinelli           (for all my fellow grad students)     The atmosphere dances lively     chatter mixes with laughter     weather, parties, schedules, gossip,     jumbled like popping corn.     Smiles dissipate troubles long enough     to remind us life is enjoyable.     worries of assignments, papers,     deadlines, unread chapters,     unturned pages, forgotten momentarily     like the stomped, scrunched-up coffee cup     tossed to the wastebasket (only missed).     A friend's greeting fades     as she rushes to class.     Voices depart, radios fade     empty chairs patch the bare lobby     lights now shine on the floor     not on faces     stairs stand still     halls are silent     as the lobby waits, and waits, and waits.     From Gone Fishing (Writers Ink Press)  

FIELDS by Daniel Axelrod   And they all seemed surreal     so terribly surreal as they      swayed softly in the wind      parting the air like tiny      green hands with sunshine      flickering.  And they tried      to slip out of my mind      but they stayed like jelly      in a strainer.  Incredible      contrast of branches     and the sky and the clouds      moving slowly like ice cubes      in a giant blue soda glass      as they drifted in a fizzy wind.        From Staircase Wisdom (Writers Ink Press)